


Draft

by Wallwalker



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story
Genre: Community: fic_on_demand, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-19
Updated: 2009-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-03 10:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashton had been dubious about this "memoir" idea, but Chisato was doing a good job of convincing him that he was worrying too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Draft

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Ovo](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/Ovo) at the Fic on Demand community on LiveJournal.

Ashton was starting to get really tired of sleeping on his stomach, he thought; it was really bothering his back. He always woke up stiff and sore, and it was hard to get out of bed with the two dragons stuck on his back; he couldn't exactly just _roll_ out of bed, could he?

He crawled out of bed, spent a few minutes remembering where they'd slept that night - they were in Lacour, right? Yeah, he was pretty sure that this was Lacour. Chisato had wanted to talk to someone... some kind of research about weapons.

He turned and looked at the other bed in the room, saw it empty and unmade - no, he corrected himself. Not empty. There was a stack of paper on the bed where Chisato should've been. Curiously, he picked up the piece on top, and quickly read it over.

> _Hey, Ashton -   
> I'm going out to get some groceries before the crowds get bad. I'll be back shortly, so don't worry so much, okay?   
> Love you!   
> \- Chisato  
> P.S. - I worked on our project last night! Left a draft here too in case you wanted to read it._

Ashton blinked, then pushed the note aside and looked at the rest of the papers - a stack of dog-eared sheets, covered in ink splatters, scribbles, and Chisato's surprisingly neat handwriting.

The dragons growled curiously as he flipped through them, and he felt the vague impressions of curiosity, although neither of them seemed to care enough to muster up the willpower to actually ask him about it. They slept more deeply than Ashton usually did, and it usually took them some time to be at their best in the morning.

"Well," Ashton said, mostly to himself, "let's see." He flipped back to the first page and began to read. "'I first met Ashton Anchors two years ago -' two years?" He closed his eyes, started trying to keep track of time. It was summer in Lacour now... had it been summer when he'd gone to help Claude and Rena? Yeah, maybe it had been... sometimes he lost track of time. "Wow. I guess it has been two years. 'I was investigating him and his companions when they came to my home city. My first thought, when I saw Ashton and his dragon friends, was that this must be a very scary, very intimidating man.'"

Gyoro and Ururun interrupted him, making odd grunting sounds that was their version of laughter. Ashton felt himself blushing, but thankfully the inevitable ribbing from his companions was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

He looked up and saw Chisato slip through the door, carrying two baskets of food - fresh eggs and fresh vegetables from the farmers' stands, probably, and maybe even some fresh meat for him. She shut the door quietly, then saw him and grinned. "Oh! Good morning, sleepyhead."

Ashton smiled back. "Good morning," he said. "You could've woken me up and asked me to help, you know."

"I know, I know, but I didn't _want_ to. I can handle a few groceries, y'know? Besides, you looked so peaceful, I hated to wake you up." She put the groceries down on the table. "So, reading my draft already?"

"Well... I just started it, actually." Ashton looked back down at it. "Is this what you were writing last night?"

"You saw me? Geez, I'm sorry, didn't mean to keep you awake, but I was really on a roll -"

"Chisato, you didn't keep me awake," Ashton interrupted her quickly. The blushing was just getting worse and worse. "I usually wake up a couple of times anyway, and I just happened to notice you writing at the desk last night. That's all."

"Oh. That's a relief." She sat down on the bed next to him. "So! I'm going to make us some breakfast while you read that, okay? I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

"Um, sure. Okay." He looked at her, then back at the paper. "Um, did you really think I was scary?"

Chisato laughed. "Ashton, you had two dragons stuck to your back. Of _course_ I thought you were scary." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I got over it, though. I'll be back shortly with breakfast, okay? Go ahead, read the rest of it and let me know what you think."

"Oh, yeah, sure thing."

Ashton took his time with the rest of the manuscript; he knew that it would take a while for Chisato to finish dinner. He'd tried to help her once, to see if the two of them together could speed things up a bit. Fortunately, they hadn't _quite_ burned down the little inn, and the innkeeper had been a good sport after they'd paid him enough to cover his expenses. Chisato had been remarkably calm about the whole thing, too; she'd just patted him on the arm as the dragons snickered, and said that maybe cooking wasn't his strong suit and he ought to stick to his own particular talents. So he got out of bed, washed up, brushed his teeth and changed into a fresh robe before sitting down at the little desk to read. He found it easier to concentrate when he was clean, even if Gyoro kept complaining about the water long after he was finished bathing.

The manuscript wasn't bad; Chisato had spent all night on it, and frankly, Ashton was a bit jealous of her writing ability. Most of what he tried to write was horribly melodramatic; he _liked_ being melodramatic, but the publishers in the city hadn't been too fond of his storytelling. Chisato had patted him on the shoulder when he'd told her the story, and suggested that maybe if he wrote non-fiction, he'd have better luck. Still, he suspected that if _he'd_ stayed up all night to write anything, it would've been awful, fiction or not.

He was nearly finished when the door banged open, and he could smell food - french toast with cinnamon, fried potatoes, hamburger steak, all sorts of things. "Breakfast is ready," Chisato nearly sang as she walked in and kicked the door closed behind her. "So, you finished reading yet?"

"Just about," Ashton said. "This _memoir_ idea of yours might just work after all. I mean, if I can write it as well as you can, that is." _Which I can't,_ he added with a mental sigh.

She knew that he was thinking it, though. She always did. "Oh, come on, Ashton," she said. "You'll do fine. You're just telling everyone about your life, how hard is that? Besides, you have me to do your editing, remember?"

"Yeah," he said, and smiled. "Yeah, that'll help." He looked back down at the paper. "I'm nearly done with this... let me see. 'And so this is a story about the kind, generous, and gorgeous Ashton Anchors...'"

Ashton trailed off, cleared his throat uncomfortably. Chisato looked at him. "Well, go on," she said. "I like the next part."

Ashton shook his head. "Chisato... doesn't that seem a bit too much? I mean, kind and generous, sure. But _gorgeous?_" He laughed nervously. "I mean, fighting men aren't exactly going to want to read about a _gorgeous_ guy!"

"Who says that fighting men are going to be the only people buying the book? What about ladies who like to read about fighters and adventurers? Don't you want your story to appeal to a wide range of readers?"

Ashton smiled nervously; he was having enough trouble believing that his life story was going to appeal to _anyone,_ let alone lots of different people. "I just think it's a little too much," he repeated. "What about 'handsome' or maybe 'good-looking' or -"

"Whoa, hang on here. _I'm_ the literary expert here, remember?" But she winked at him. "I've got it - cross out 'gorgeous' and write in 'dashing.' That ought to do it."

"Well... all right," he said, a bit dubiously. He hurried to cross out the word, then took another look at it. "I think that's good," he said. "But..."

"But what, Ashton?"

"But... well, why do you want lady readers thinking about how 'dashing' I am?" he blurted, feeling his cheeks grow hot again. "I mean, if they think I'm good-looking, they might start trying to find me and... well, you know."

Chisato walked up to the desk and put the food down, and knelt down next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Let them try all they want," she said quietly, grinning at him. "That'll just give me a chance to show them that you're mine."

"I, um... oh!" He could feel himself blushing, and he heard the dragons chortling, but he didn't care, especially after she straddled his lap and started kissing him.

Both the manuscript and their breakfast lay forgotten on the desk for quite a while after that.


End file.
